dsummersill

Stroke Caregiver - female
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Blog Entries posted by dsummersill

  1. dsummersill
    Today at school I was told that Cayden no longer needed diapers. He is going potty on the toilet and staying dry all day. Now all we need to do is work on the home front. He refuses to wear underwear at home and his teacher told me she talked to Cayden and he told her he was going to use the potty all the time. He wants to go in his diaper and no matter what we do he wont use the toilet at home.
     
    This milestone is coming along and I am so proud of him. He is also dressing himself more and more everyday!!!!!
     
    Milestone getting really close to being met!!!!!!!
    Dyan
  2. dsummersill

    explanation of stroke

    By dsummersill,

    Ok everyone I know that most of you caregivers are caring for older people than my 4 yr old son but I have read lots of blogs and been into the caregiver room and all of you talk about their attitudes. Well I know that with brain damage in every age that it affects their personnality and you can see the change more with an older person than with one who had a stroke before they were born. But I have a question. How do you explain to people to get them to understand what your loved one went through and why they act the way they do so others understand. My sons teacher is trying to explain to a bunch of 4 and 5 yr olds why Cayden wont play with them or acts up the way he does when he gets angry. He isnt totally potty trained tho they are working on it and the rest are potty trained. They go home and try to tell their parents about their day but cant explain to their parents about how Cayden was acting and why he was acting that way.
     
    I want to get all these parents to understand that Cayden isnt being this way on purpose but he is developmentally delayed to where he is acting the way they used to when they were two yrs old. Please those of you who have this problem with older or younger stroke survivors please help. Not only that but how do you get these stroke survivors to understand that what they are doing isnt right. I know not many can help me with me having a 4 yr old and having to explain to a 2 yr old but hopefully one of you could possibly maybe not from experience but by advice or whatever help me with Cayden and getting him to understand that his attitude needs to change.
     
    I hope I explained what I need help with correctly to where everyone who reads this will understand what I am trying to say.
     
    thanks for any help I get.
    Dyan
  3. dsummersill

    New Update

    By dsummersill,

    Caydens teacher just told us that Cayden wore big boy underwear all day and stayed dry. We tried to put him in big boy underwear this morning but he threw a mortal fit so we had to put him back in a pullup. I told the teacher if she wanted to try him in big boy underwear she needed to put one on him. She did and he wore it all day and stayed dry. He said he wanted to wear one tomorrow too so hopefully when tomorrow comes. He hasnt had to go potty yet since we got him home so hopefully he will remember he is not in a diaper and goes where he needs to go. If he does then I will have 16 packages of diapers to get rid of.
     
     
    Milestone getting ready to reach!!!!!
    Dyan
  4. dsummersill
    After having a bad week last week he started his week this week with great attitude!!!! After the birthday party he was bugging us to buy him some balloons so while he was at school I bought him a bag of balloons and when we got home and saw that he did great in school I gave them to him.
     
    That boy was so excited he was jumping up and down shouting and laughing. Its like he hasnt ever seen a balloon before. I am getting light heading from blowing up balloons for the past HOUR!!!!! Boy I cant wait until "sissy" gets home from school so she can blow these balloons up!!!!!
     
     
     
    One of his balloons popped while I was blowing it up and he got so scared and sad he cried for about 15 min. I finally calmed him down and found another pretty one that he liked and now its on for round 2......LOL
     
     
    Dyan
  5. dsummersill
    Cayden went to his very first birthday party with kids his own age from his class. There was only a few from his class that went but still it was fun. I noticed though that he didnt play with any of his friends he stayed with me most of the time and played by himself. He did play with a girl at the air hockey game but that is because she took the initiative to play with him. He did things his other classmates were doing but that was after they left.
     
    I hope this is due to him being 2yrs old developmentally and he will out grow it. I dont want him to become a recluse!!!!!
     
    Dyan
  6. dsummersill

    Cayden Update

    By dsummersill,

    We went to Caydens Psychiatrist yesterday and talked to him about his problems in school. We found out that ADHD is inherited but it can also be caused by brain trauma. We dont want him on ADHD medicine but we need to do something. He is on a bunch of homeopathic medicine that seem to be working. They decided to up his dose of one of his homeopathic medicine and to add to it. If it doesnt work within a few weeks he is going to put him on a small dose of ADHD meds that will take away the edge of restlessness. He is actuallhy up to par for where he needs to be considering he is only 2 developmentally.
     
    This is getting to be something let me tell ya. I have a 4 yr old that is only 2 and doing what he should have done when he was 2. It is getting hard to keep him in a regular preschool and if this doesnt work they may need to find another special ed class for him to go to. The preschool special ed isnt challenging him enough but the regular preschool is getting too hard for him. The academic part isnt challenging him it is the other kids and interacting with them.....I mean how do you explain to a 4-5 yr old that one of their classmates had had a stroke and so he isnt developmentally like them. The teacher is pretty good but I know that she is having trouble so maybe I should just send some letters out to the parents to explain Cayden.
     
     
    Please if anyone has any ideas of what to do for him and to get these children and the parents to understand let me know all ideas are welcome!!!! Especially because these kids want to play with Cayden but he rather play with himself......That is what 2 yr olds do. I want him to learn how to interact with other kids his age but do you think that he needs to interact with others like him or what? I dont know what to do!!!!!! And how do you explain all this to the child himself? I dont want him to think of himself as any different from all the other kids and he doesnt understand that all these other kids never been to school and that is why they cant do what he can academically. He teases them more than they tease him because he doesnt understand that he has been to school since he was 17 mos old and that you normally dont go to school until 4. He thinks that his life is the NORM for everyone and not just him and there is a child who cries every time her mom drops her off and Cayden doesnt understand why she is so sad when he can go off to school. What do I tell him about all this without him thinking he isnt as good as the other kids?
     
     
     
    Dyan
  7. dsummersill
    Well yesterday when I picked Cayden up from school his teacher told me to put big boy undies on Cayden because he wanted to be like the other kids.
     
    Today I tried but he refused to wear them but said that he would stay dry. I told the teacher that if he was dry all day and used the toilet that I would get him a "surprise". When I went to read to his class they told me he was dry all day and used the toilet. Thats the good news the bad news is that it only lasted at school. His daddy was in the bathroom so he went in his diaper. Thank God we had pullups on him!!!!!! I would have had a big mess too clean up!!!!!!
     
    One small step forward and one big step back......try again tomorrow hopefully he will keep going like he is......Milestone almost reached!!!!
    Dyan
  8. dsummersill

    Bad day for Cayden

    By dsummersill,

    We had us a scare the other day. I noticed Cayden wasnt using his right hand or leg again.......I thought he had his second stroke that the doctors warned us about. I called his chiropractor first and took him in. She adjusted him and he took a nap. He got up using that side of his body. His chiropractor said the last adjustment didnt stick and that his nerves were pinched again. He couldnt feel his left side again so of course ya cant use what ya cant feel!!!! I also noticed yesterday he was having trouble using his right side but once he woke up from his nap he was using it again.
     
    Time to see his neurologist again to see why when he gets tired his right side goes limp. If this happens to any of you please let me know what causes it and what ya do to help the symptoms. I sure hope he outgrows this.
     
    Dyan
  9. dsummersill

    Pics

    By dsummersill,

    Ok everybody there are some new pics of Cayden on here for yall to see!!!! This was the first halloween he is able to eat all his candy and he met a new friend trick or treating....I thought he would be afraid of some of the trick or treaters but he surprised me. He told me "those are all fake mom they are masks" The last time we took him trick or treating he wouldnt look at anyone because he was terrified of them!!!!! I wish I had my camara to take pics of his face when he was looking at all the trick or treaters.
     
    Oh then he decided because he wasnt scared he would scare me and he decided to run in front of a car!!!! I thought I was going to have a heart attack!!!!! He was very lucky I saw what he was about to do and pulled him to safety and the lady slammed on her breaks!!!!! I bet she needed to go home and change her pants because I could tell she was terrified too!!!!!
     
    Dyan
  10. dsummersill
    I had a parent teacher conference for Cayden and his Speech Therapist told me he was doing so good with his IEP goals for speech that she was going to drop him from 4 times a week to 2 times a week!!!!
     
    He is also dressing himself now all by himself and today was able to actually put his own socks on!!!! He usually needed help to put his toes into his socks but then could pull up his socks. When his Social worker came over he went and showed her and all of us that he could put on his own socks even the putting the toes in his socks!!!!
    Hurray Cayden!!!!! Milestone Complete!!!!
     
     
     
    Dyan
     
     
     
  11. dsummersill

    Stroke Awareness

    By dsummersill,

    I am trying to get ahold of OCC and Paul Jr Designs to have them build a chopper for Stroke awareness not just for my son but for all pediatric and adult stroke survivors. If anyone knows of an association who will be willing to help me out I would greatly appreciate all help. I know too many people who have had a stroke and too little people who understand those who have had one. Just because a person cant see the damage caused by a stroke doesnt mean that we are "fine". All stroke survivors are special and need understanding and support like anyone else with a well known disease. Cancer is now well known and people are supporting them so now its time that stroke is made aware and something be done about it.
     
    thankyou for all the support and all you stroke survivors God Bless and my prayers are with you!!!!
     
    Dyan
  12. dsummersill

    Cayden's milestones

    By dsummersill,

    Cayden is a 4 yr old stroke survivor who had a stroke at 37 wks gestation. They didnt know he had had a stroke until 3 days later when they did a MRI on his brain because he started seizing right after birth. When they did the MRI they saw the the stroke killed 20% of his left brain and damaged about 20% of his middle brain. He is doing much more than they expected when he was first born. They said that he wouldnt survive the first night much less live a normal life. He is talking, eating, and running.